The verdict by the High Court in allowing Catholic publications to use the word 'Allah' as Malay rendition for 'God' has resulted in massive protests by the Muslims. The High Court decision has also triggered arsons in at least three churches in Kuala Lumpur and in the state of Selangor on last Friday 8 January. When churches in Malaysia suffered violent attacks with thrown petrol bombs causing fire, it became an issue of high concern to all Malaysians.
Harsh Condemnation and Bitter Criticism
The church burning act by malicious elements has serious damaged Malaysia's peaceful atmosphere, resulting in sharp condemnation from all Malaysians across the board. Soon after this disturbing incident happened, Prime Minister Najib Razak used first available opportunity to express his harsh condemnation and bitter criticism on the saboteurs. He also instructed the police to step up security patrols to protect religious sites. On the day that followed the arson incident, Prime Minister Najib also led senior cabinet members to inspect the burned church. Besides expressing his regrets to church leaders, Prime Minister Najib also announced that the Government would provide funding to rebuild the church.
As the country's most senior leader, Prime Minister Najib has not only played a firefighting role, he is also fully aware that the core value of maintaining racial and religious harmony that the nation has tried very hard to build and maintain cannot be destroyed by a handful of religious extremists. The spirit of racial and religious unity and harmony is Malaysia's most prominent feature. It is also the leading driving force for national progress. However, it is regrettable to note that as soon as Prime Minister Najib issued a directive to protect religious sites, we were told additional churches were also damaged by the malicious elements. This shows that the violent mob did not take the country's rules and orders seriously.
Maintaining Social Stability
It is all Malaysians' responsibility to maintain social stability and to live with one another in harmony in this multiethnic, multi-religious nation. We would like to stress that the importance of this responsibility to all citizens again. Since the maintenance of national stability is above all other concerns, it goes without stressing that living in harmony is the basic right of every civic society. If Malaysia losses these virtues, it will be a terrible scene for the nation. As such, our government and our politicians cannot just talk. They must put what they talk into action.
We would also like to point out specifically another important value in Malaysia. This important core value is that all citizens must learn to obey and protect the rule of laws in the country. All citizens must make commitment to support the rule of the laws in Malaysia. It is equally important for the country to ensure that the Federal Constitution that gives Malaysians the freedom of religion and the spirit of just legal system be prevailed and protected amid recent church arson incident. The rule of law can help us to clarify what is right and wrong and set things right for the good of the nation. It will improve the social fabric and national management mechanism. The spirit of having a just legal system can play a significant platform in national building.
Law-Abiding System
In short, what we need is a universal law-abiding system. From government officials down to the civilians, we must use the abiding in law as our bottom line as citizens. If Malaysians go beyond this bottom line, they must face legal punishment. Besides, it is also extremely important for our law enforcement unit to carry out the task entrusted to them fairly and impartially with high efficiency in order to protect the society.
In Malaysia, the Government has never prohibited the public engagement in street protests and demonstrations. As such, Malaysians can still express their dissatisfaction over certain issues through street protests or rallies. However, the pre-requisite condition is that that those who want to stage protests must first obtain police permit. If protesters do not apply for permit to stage protest or that the police do not want to issue police permit to protest, then all the demonstrations the protesters tried to do are but illegal activities that warrant police arrest. If certain protesters openly stir up some sensitive issues through illegal demonstration and carry out illegal rallies, and if the enforcement unit of the police are not willing to take action on them this can amount to posing a threat to the society. The ruling government should know that a single spark could start a prairie fire. Where there are arsons on local churches, the government must take first available action to snub the fire before it burns the whole forest. We want to believe that the professional ethics of the police task force and our army will not allow a handful of black sheep to pose a threat to the nation and destroy our hard earn national foundation.
Resolving Controversial Issues
The use the word 'Allah' as Malay rendition for 'God by other religions is a tricky issue to resolve in the Malaysian context. However, there are legal channels to resolve this problem. The legal approach is what all Malaysians must accept as the only approach we can resolve controversial issues, including the issue of the use of Malay word "Allah". Once the court has come out with a decision on the court case, all parties must strictly abide the court decision to avoid creating unnecessary controversy and suspicion. We must respond to Prime Minister Najib's appeal for all citizens to keep calm and allow the court to decide on the "Allah" court case. This should be the legal model for Malaysia to resolve social issues.
Under the present security situation in Malaysia, the Government and the police must step up action to arrest the culprits that set churches on fire. It is important for the Government and the enforcement unit to safeguard social security and personal safety resolutely. We must curb the evil and violent force among our midst. We must restore peace and harmony in the society and reassure the people that the Government and the police are doing their best to allow all Malaysians to live in harmony under social stability environment. Our Government should never compromise this basic national building creed.
No comments:
Post a Comment